Free interactive worksheet

Passengers on the Bus

In this exercise from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy, your life is a bus and you are the one driving it. The direction you drive is what you value. The passengers are the thoughts, feelings, memories and urges that climb aboard along the way. They tell you to turn around, pull over, or head somewhere else entirely.

This worksheet lets you reflect on how you do react and determine how you would like to react. You will be asked to set your direction and then write down what your passengers say. You'll look at what it costs when they take the wheel, and then work out what driving on would look like, even with all of them still aboard.

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Passengers on the Bus

Step 1 — Where are you driving?

Start with a direction rather than a goal. While a goal is something you can finish, a direction is something you head towards. Think of the kind of friend, family member, or colleague you want to be.

If you want help identifying what you value, you can borrow language from this list of 50+ personal values, or use the values card sort to narrow it down.

Your bus A bus drawn from overhead. A board across the front displays the direction you are driving in. You are in the driver's seat. Six passenger seats fill in with what your passengers say below. The picture shows back what you have written. Where to? YOU 1 2 3 4 5 6
This is your bus. The board shows the direction you are driving, and the seats fill in as you write your passengers below. Click a seat to jump to that passenger.

Step 2 — Who gets on board?

The passengers are the thoughts, feelings, memories and urges that board your bus along the way.

In their words, write down some of the thoughts and feelings that come up when you're driving this way.

Passenger 1

Passenger 2

Passenger 3

Step 3 — When they take the wheel

Think back to when you have done what your passengers wanted. While you were turned around dealing with them, the bus was still going somewhere. Write down where it ended up and what it may have cost you.

Step 4 — One trip this week

You don't have to win the argument or wait for them to get off at the next stop. Even if they keep talking, you still decide where the bus goes. Pick one thing you can do this week that goes in your direction.

Passengers on the Bus is an exercise from Acceptance and Commitment Therapy developed by Steven Hayes.

Other worksheets

These worksheets are self-reflection exercises, not therapy or treatment. If you are experiencing a medical or mental-health emergency, contact emergency services or a crisis hotline immediately.